The Southern Iowa Speedway was the site Wednesday of the first of four nights of Frostbuster racing in the state of Iowa. It was also our first race of the 2016 season. Four IMCA classes ran, the Modifieds, Stock Cars, SportMods and Hobby Stocks. Drivers from 11 states came to test their skills on the Monster Half-Mile. Out of state drivers in the Stock Car and SportMod classes went home with wins, while Iowa drivers claimed the Modified and Hobby Stock victories.
The IMCA Stock Cars were first to run their 20-lap main event. Jay Schmidt and Derrick Agee from Moberly, Missouri, claimed the front row starting positions. Schmidt jumped to the lead as the race went green, Agee hot on his tail. Agee looked to the outside and after a couple of attempts at the pass, got the job done. The battle behind him was entertaining with Cayden Carter, Damon Murty, Jay Schmidt and Mike Hughes duking it out. Carter took over the second spot and gave it his all, briefly over taking Agee in the closing laps. However, Agee come back and won the dash to the checkers, sealing his win. Carter came from starting sixth to claim the runner up spot, third went to twelfth place starter, Damon Murty, Schmidt was fourth and Mike Hughes rounded out the top five.
The SportMods ran 16 laps in their feature. Successful driver out of Norfolk, Nebraska, Kyle Prauner, had little trouble in taking the win from his pole starting spot, winning it in comfortable fashion. Things did not start well however, as a multi-car pile up before lap 2 was in the books, resulted in a parking lot out of turn four---eliminating several cars. Following Prauner across the line in second place was Carter VandenBerg who had started seventh, third went to another Nebraska driver, Brandon Spanjer, fourth was Jake McBirnie and Wisconsinite, Lucas Lamberies, last year's Frostbuster winner at Osky, took fifth after starting deep in the field.
There was a stellar field of IMCA Modifieds in the house last night. Among those were Kelly Shryock, who I think everyone has heard of his accomplishments over the years, last year's Frostbuster winner, Jason Wolla from North Dakota, Tim Ward, the Arizona driver who we understand bought a house in Iowa and will be running the racing circuit in the area this year, Richie Gustin was in the house running in the 7SR car, former NASCAR racer, Kenny Schrader came to play, and another Arizona driver, RC Whitwell was also on hand. Throw in more local and out of state successful racers, and the field was stout!
Kyle Brown got the lucky pill draw to start on the pole position of the 20-lap feature, and Tim Ward sat along side him. Cayden Carter and Kelly Shryock were right behind them. This race also did not start well as several cars piled it up just out of turn four. When things were cleared away and the race did get underway, Brown snapped up the #1 spot. Shryock quickly claimed the runner up position, and from there on out, the chase was on. Shryock stuck close to Brown the entire race, and when lap traffic played into the game in the final two laps, it was looking to be an interesting finish. However, Brown never faltered at Shryocks attempt, nor did the lap traffic cause him grief, and he flew under the checkers first, taking the win. Cayden Carter finished in third, fourth was RC Whitwell and Tim Ward completed the top five. Brown picks up at Osky, where he left off last year, as he won the Fall Challenge on October 3, 2015.
Nick Ulin lead the 15-lap Hobby Stock feature the entire race to claim victory. He finished well ahead of second place John "The Mayor" Watson. A distant third was Bobby Greene, followed by Benji Irvine and Nathan Ballard in a close fourth and fifth place finish. As a note, I had the #20 car of Brandon Schmitt crossing the line in third place, but a check of the finish on Speednet Direct indicates that he was dq'd. There was a scary incident in corner three before lap two was scored, when cars made hard hits and one seemed to nose dive high in the air. It was hard to see just what happened from our vantage point, but getting the worst end of the deal was the 7B of Eric Stanton. Stanton, who was in a brand new race car, now has a pile of junk. Luckily, he was not injured.
It was so good to get back to the Southern Iowa Speedway and to finally get in a race. Our season began late this year, partly due to the fact that we just had a late winter vacation. Hawaii was beautiful, by the way. It was great to see racing friends again. The track did have some issues last night, ugly ruts reared their heads in the corners. This is not usually the case at Osky. We have learned that promoter Mike VanGenderen is not in charge of track prep this year. The track got bladed several times between races in an attempt to lessen the rough rides.
Our plan was for night #2 of the Frostbusters at Vinton tonight. However, just got word not long ago, that they have cancelled. Therefore, tomorrow at Marshalltown and Saturday at Boone will be next up on our schedule.....pending Mother Nature's call of course.
Mark next Wednesday night, April 10 as the season opener at the Southern Iowa Speedway.
